Great Loop 2022: Up the Atlantic on a 36′ Carver?

I make tentative plans to join another Looper boat as a crew member.

It all started when I returned (early) from what should have been 8 weeks on MV Nano as a crew member. (You can read about that trip in the posts in the Great Loop 2021 category, which are listed here in order.)

The backstory

A few days after settling in back home with my pups, I went to the AGLCA website to correct something I’d posted before the trip. You see, I’d participated in a forum discussion about being a crew member and had mentioned my upcoming trip with Paul and Dianne. One of the other forum participants told me that I was nuts to be one of three strangers on such a small boat. I’d naively replied that Capt Paul was a good judge of character and would know from experience who would work out on board.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. I started having trouble with crew member Dianne within 10 days of joining Nano. The situation deteriorated to the point where I just couldn’t stand being in her presence anymore. When Capt Paul admitted that since we were through the canal he really didn’t need two other crew members, I jumped ship in Alpena, MI, three weeks before I was supposed to depart. I did this for the sake of my sanity and have not yet regretted my decision.

Lesson learned.

But my cocky and naive response in the forum was eating at me and I thought it best to fess up to my error — perhaps to help other potential crew members go into their own situations with their eyes wide open. So I tracked down the thread and added a new response, mentioning the problems I encountered and how I’d had to deal with them. I also added a new response to another thread to share the same information.

That got the conversation restarted, but I never did stick around to see what was said. The reason: AGLCA forum nazi Kim decided that my comments were inappropriate because they referred to members. Keep in mind that I never mentioned the problem crew member by name — but Capt Paul responded and provided that information. (Jeez.) So I’d provided a generic response about my problem and because someone else identified the people involved by name, my comments were removed/edited.

A few other AGLCA members contacted me directly by email. Most were sympathetic. One was outraged that my comments had been messed with and claimed it happened to a lot of AGLCA members. And another asked if I’d be interested in trying again as a crew member on his 36′ Carver.

And that’s how I met Capt John.

A different experience

John was looking for someone to accompany him for at least two weeks going up the Intracoastal Waterway from South Carolina (where the boat is now) and exploring towns and rivers along the way. Unlike Capt Paul, he’s not in any hurry and has no schedule or penciled-out plan. He likes to spend just a day traveling for every three days on the water, so there would be lots of marina time, as well as some anchor time. He’ll have bicycles on board and is interested in being active and social while stopped along the way.

This sounds like heaven to me. I was sorely disappointed at the number of potentially interesting stops we’d missed on Nano, especially on the Hudson River and Erie Canal — areas rich with history. I was also upset that I couldn’t be more physically active during the trip; we left marinas so early in the morning that it was impossible for me to get a good walk in before it got miserably hot and humid. (I’m a desert dweller these days and humidity kills me.) To this day, I can’t wait to go back to the area with my own boat, possibly to spend an entire summer exploring the area. And finally, I’m very interested in meeting and talking to other Loopers, especially folks who live aboard their boat year-round. I want a better understanding of the boating lifestyle and think input from others would be invaluable.

Because Capt John’s 36′ Carver is considerably larger than Capt Paul’s 27′ Ranger Tug, there would be a lot more space on board. I’d have my own sleeping area and head at the front of the boat while his space was aft. Best of all, I would be the only crew member — there was no unknown third party to share space with.

John’s boat is currently in South Carolina getting bottom work done. Although he approached me originally about an autumn trip that would actually be going on right now, our individual personal commitments — me with two jewelry shows in November and him with ski season starting December 15 — made an availability mismatch. And then he learned that the boat wasn’t going to be ready in November anyway.

So we started talking about spring. I could give him from mid March to May 1, which worked out well for him. Six weeks. I’d be back in time to take care of my responsibilities for cherry season.

But then he started communicating with other Loopers who claimed they were having trouble finding space in marinas along the way. He started thinking that an earlier start might be better for us, providing that the weather was suitable. As I reported in my blog, I don’t have too much scheduled for this winter, although I do have a jewelry class to attend in early February in Tucson. I could, theoretically, be home by February 10 and meet with him in South Carolina as early as February 15. And I’d still stay on board until May 1. That would make a total of 10 weeks or two and a half months.

Our meetup

Of course, all of this was discussed via email, along with the kind of crew member he was looking for and the kind of trip I was hoping for. We hadn’t yet met in person and there was no way I was going to do a trip with a total stranger — especially after my ordeal with Dianne.

So today we met up via Skype. Capt John turned out to be youngish — maybe younger than me? — and friendly, quick to smile. We video chatted for nearly an hour about the trip, my experience on Nano, and what we both were looking for. Nothing we discussed was new, but I went into more detail about my previous experience during this chat. We seemed to hit it off fine. He seems like a really nice guy and I’m looking forward to meeting him.

And going on the trip, of course.

No decision was made about a starting date. I told him my availability — no earlier than February 15 — and he’s going to do some more weather research. I don’t mind it being chilly, but I don’t want it to be cold. 60s in South Carolina seems to be the norm for that time of year. It works for me. Layers.

Great Loop 2022?

So could this be my first Great Loop experience for 2022? It looks that way.

Stay tuned for updates.